Novell Help Librarian | 1996-07-10 | 133KB | 958 lines
Novell Help Librarian Data File Version 1.00
COPYRIGHT (c) 1985 by Novell, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
NLSP: Actual maximum packet size 1 of 2
Minimum packet size supported by all NLSP routers on this circuit. This value is the minimum of the following:
The packet size that the LAN media supports
(including all media visible to IPX if this LAN is bridged).
The packet size that each NLSP router has been configured with.
NLSP: Maximum actual packet size 2 of 2
Includes the IPX header, but does not include the three-byte compression header.
This value is used by NLSP to ensure that packets it sends can be received by all NLSP routers on the circuit.
Circuit Physical Address 1 of 1
Data-link address of the network interface board used for this circuit. This address is used by other systems when they transmit a packet to this system.
Over WAN circuits, the physical address is undefined.
Broadcast Hello Interval 1 of 3
Default: 20 Seconds
The interval, in seconds, at which NLSP Hellos are sent on a broadcast circuit. A broadcast circuit is a LAN, such as token ring or Ethernet.
The Hello protocol is used by NLSP to detect the presence of other NLSP systems on the network. As systems are detected, a table is built of the known NLSP systems on this LAN. Network connectivity is determined from this table.p
Broadcast Hello Interval 2 of 3
The lower this value is, the faster the network converges. Therefore, if this system is a router that provides a redundant path through the network, set this field to a low value. If this system is not a router, then set the value fairly high.
This value operates in conjunction with the holding timer multiplier to determine how long a system should consider the system to be operative in the absence of another hello.
Broadcast Hello Interval 3 of 3
Unlike RIP, a system sending a hello indicates to other routers the period that they should consider this system active in the absence of a hello refresh. This means that different systems on the same LAN can have different values configured.
Circuit State 1 of 1
Operational state of a circuit. A circuit can be Down, Up, or Sleeping. The Down value indicates a circuit does not have data-link connectivity. An Up value indicates a circuit has data-link connectivity. A Sleeping indicates a dynamic circuit that does not have data-link connectivity.
Circuit Type 1 of 4
Points of attachments to a network. For example, a LAN is considered a circuit within IPX. In addition, an X.25 Switched Virtual Circuit is considered a circuit within IPX. There can be many IPX circuits over the same X.25 port. Treating each of these connections individually allows you to observe the operational behavior of each X.25 connection.
IPX supports many circuit types. If the media also supports switched virtual circuits, then all the circuit types are supported. }
Circuit Type 2 of 4
Following circuit types are supported by IPX:
Broadcast
Point-to-Point
WAN Numbered RIP
WAN Unnumbered RIP
WAN Dynamic
WAN Client
Broadcast links are LAN media. IPX supports Ethernet, token ring, FDDI, ARCnet, and other LAN media.i
Circuit Type 3 of 4
Point-to-Point is an NLSP-to-NLSP circuit which may operate over media such as X.25, PPP, Frame Relay, or ISDN.
WAN numbered RIP requires a network address assignment to the WAN Connection. This connection operates between two RIP systems.
WAN unnumbered RIP allows RIP routers to communicate without requiring a network number assignment to the connection.
Circuit Type 4 of 4
WAN Dynamic is a connection that becomes active in the presence of user data only. This requires the configuration of static routes and services to the link (on a Multi Protocol Router, this can be done with either the STATICON utility or INETCFG).
WAN Client is a connection to a workstation.
Next Hop Circuit 1 of 1
Circuit over which packets are sent for the current destination.
If you are running RIP on this circuit, then packets are only sent on the circuit displayed. If you are using NLSP with path splitting disabled, then only this circuit is used to send packets. If you are running NLSP and path splitting is turned on, then packets can be sent over other circuits as well.
Circuit Index 1 of 1
Used by SNMP to iterate through the circuit table. Each circuit has a unique number associated with it.
Circuit Name 1 of 2
Text string associated with the circuit. The name can vary between implementations of IPX. If the system that you are managing is a NetWare MultiProtocol Router, the following rules apply:
If the circuit is a Broadcast circuit, then the name of the circuit is the name of the loaded LAN board. If the board was set up through INETCFG, then there is an additional frame type suffix associated with the board that indicates the frame type.
Circuit Name 2 of 2
If you did not name the board, an index number is used instead.
If the circuit is a WAN circuit, the name of the circuit is the name of the router or client on the remote end of the WAN connection.
Number of Circuits 1 of 1
Number of circuits currently visible to the IPX software.
Community Name 1 of 1
Default: public
This is the SNMP community name. Community names are used to provide access control to a system. For IPXCON to access a system with a community name other than public, you must set the community name to match the name configured on the system. (You can configure the community name in INETCFG for NetWare MultiProtocol Router software.) The community name is sent as clear text and it is not secure.
Compression State 1 of 1
For IPX, compression refers to header compression. This technique takes NCP and IPX headers and represents them as a few bytes.
If this value is on, header compression is active on the circuit. If this value is off, header compression is inactive.
Header compression cannot be used on broadcast circuits.
Outgoing Compression Errors 1 of 1
Number of IPX packets discarded because of compression errors. A small number of compression errors is acceptable. If this value is large or growing, the system is running out of ECBs.
Compressed Packets Sent 1 of 1
Number of packets sent over the circuit that have their IPX or NCP headers compressed. If you are using header compression, this number should be significantly higher than the number of initialization packets sent. If this is not the case, it indicates that you should increase the number of compression slots negotiated.
Header Compression Slots 1 of 2
Default: 16 Slots
Number of compression slots available on the circuit.
Each compression slot can contain either an IPX header or a NCP header. In general, a session between two end points occupies a single slot. Routing information occupies 1 or 2 slots. When there are no more slots, connections are sent without header compression.
Header Compression Slots 2 of 2
However, each slot requires processing. The more slots that are configured, the slower IPX processes outgoing IPX packets.
CSNP Interval 1 of 2
Default: 30 Seconds
This is the Complete Sequence Number Packet. The interval is the frequency with which the designated router transmits a CSNP on a broadcast circuit.
The CSNP contains a summary of all LSPs in the link state database. Each time a CSNP is received, the system's link state database is checked to ensure that no LSPs have been dropped.
CSNP Interval 2 of 2
Each time a CSNP is transmitted, all systems on the LAN process it to ensure that their databases are synchronized. This involves processing and as a result, you should not configure CSNP intervals to be too frequent.
Because CSNPs recover from dropped LSPs, an interval that is too long slows down convergence in the network.
Connection Type 1 of 1
This is the neighbor connection type. Currently, only Level 1 is supported.
Corrupt LSPs 1 of 3
Number of corrupt LSPs received by this system. A corrupt LSP is one whose checksum is incorrect. Any non-zero value should be investigated.
Corrupt LSPs occur for several reasons. One is that there is an error in the hardware. In this case, packets are corrupted during internal transfers over a bus, or some other internal error, such as a software error that corrupts packets.
Corrupt LSPs 2 of 3
Another reason for corrupted LSPs is that a WAN link might be damaging the packet. Because most IPX packets are sent without checksums, the offending link should be removed.
A third reason is that a system that received an LSP has corrupted it internally, and now continually sends the LSP to achieve synchronization. The offending system should be identified, and the cause, bad memory or errant software, should be replaced or removed from the system.
Corrupt LSPs 3 of 3
A LANalyzer network analyzer can be used to determine the source of the corrupt LSPs. If the system being managed is a Novell implementation of NLSP, the system console screen should print the origin of the corrupt LSP. 3
NLSP Cost 1 of 2
Total NLSP cost to reach the destination network. NLSP costs range from 0 to 63 per hop. NLSP uses a small range of costs to:
ease administration
reduce the time it takes to run the decision process
allow automatic load sharing to occur between links of similar speeds without user intervention.
NLSP Cost 2 of 2
Each hop's cost is derived from the speed reported by the board, or determined through the IPXWAN protocol.
To determine the default values for various WAN speeds, obtain a copy of the NLSP specification from Novell.
Hops with lower numeric costs are considered to provide better routes than hops with higher costs.
Incoming Compression Errors 1 of 2
Incoming compression errors occur when there is an error in processing an incoming, compressed packet.
Compression errors occur for several reasons. One reason is that there are insufficient ECBs available on the system.
Another reason is that the circuit is dropping packets. This might occur because the system on the other end of the circuit has insufficient ECBs or queue depth configured for its end of the circuit.
Incoming Compression Errors 2 of 2
A final reason for this error is an incorrect implementation of the header compression algorithms. If none of the other reasons seems likely, you should turn off header compression.
Delay 1 of 2
Propagation delay, in microseconds, of the link. For LANs, this value is fixed at 200 microseconds.
Over a WAN, IPXWAN determines the propagation delay of the circuit. This value might be high if compressing modems are adding significant delay to sent packets. Significant delay slows down your IPX NCP connections.
Delay 2 of 2
Under certain circumstances, the delay calculation can be higher than the actual delay of the circuit. This is usually due to multiprotocol operation over the link.
Delay is an empirical calculation of the propagation delay of the link.
Designated Router Broadcast Hello Interval 1 of 1
Default: 10 Seconds
Interval at which the designated router sends Hello packets on broadcast circuits. This is a network-wide constant. All systems should have the same interval configured.
Because the designated router has responsibility for connectivity and LSP synchronization on the LAN, this should be set to a low value.
Destination Information 1 of 1
Describes details about the system providing this service, such as its location within the network, the cost to reach the system, and so on.
If this is an NLSP system, an additional description of the path used to reach the system is provided.
Available Services 1 of 1
Displays the services available on the destination server, as seen by the current router.
This only shows those services that are visible from the current router. If services have been filtered with SAP filtering, for example, these services are not visible.
Destination Type 1 of 1
Indicates what the network number represents in an NLSP network.
If you are using NLSP, either NLSP Level 1 router or network is displayed. If the system is not known to NLSP because it was learned through RIP, then <unknown> is displayed.
Destinations (networks) 1 of 2
Displays the number of destinations (network numbers) known to the current system and includes the internal network number of Novell file servers.
If you are not using route filtering in your network, all systems should show the same number. Inconsistent values point to network problems.
If you are using RIP, it might take some time before a network that has become unreachable is removed from the list of destinations.
Destinations (networks) 2 of 2
To stop this from happening, eliminate any routing loops in your network (this is unnecessary with NLSP).
Detailed Circuit Information 1 of 1
Displays additional information on the circuit. The additional information characterizes the operation of the routing protocols over the circuit. Also, this field describes detailed information on header compression, if it is being used.
Detailed IPX Information 1 of 1
Displays more detailed statistics on IPX.
Detailed NLSP System Information 1 of 1
Displays additional details on this NLSP system.
Estimated Delay 1 of 2
Estimated propogation delay, in microseconds, for a packet to reach the destination. The estimated delay does not include any queueing delay in the path.
This value is calculated by the delay values advertised by routers in the path. The advertised values are summed up to determine the path cost.
Over LANs, routers advertise a fixed delay, which represents the forwarding delay in the router.
Estimated Delay 2 of 2
Over WANs, the value is estimated by the IPXWAN protocol.
High delays can occur because of compressing modems, multiprotocol operation, or latencies in switched networks such as X.25. This value is only an estimate. The actual delay might be lower. High delays slow down NCP operation in the network.
Estimated Throughput 1 of 2
Estimated throughput available through the path to the destination.
The estimated throughput is the minimum of all reported hops to a destination. Over LANs, the value is provided by the board in routers, and is fixed at the media speed. Over WANs, the IPXWAN protocol estimates the throughput available. Over congested, packet switched networks like X.25, this value might be lower than the maximum throughput. In addition, compression is not accounted for and it is not
Estimated Throughput 2 of 2
included in the estimated throughput. Finally, load shared paths do not increase the estimated throughput to a destination. Only a single path is examined.
Because these values are empirically derived, they are only estimates of the throughput to the destination.
Next hop NIC Address 1 of 1
Next hop NIC address is the data-link address of the next hop network adapter card. This card is used when sending a packet to the destination.
Over WAN circuits, the next hop NIC address is undefined.
System Identifier 1 of 1
Unique number for each NLSP router. NLSP uses this address to distinguish NLSP systems, much the same as a network number is used to distinguish between different networks. If this destination is a LAN, the system identifier is the designated router that generated it, plus a one-byte LAN identifier.
If this destination is an NLSP router, the destination includes "00" as the last byte.
Reply to Get Nearest Server Request 1 of 1
Default: Yes
Value that indicates whether the server or router replies to Get Nearest Server requests.
Workstations use this initially to find a file server. Therefore, at least one server or router on the LAN must be able to reply to Get Nearest Server.
Hello Interval 1 of 3
Default: 20 Seconds
Frequency with which NLSP Hello packets are sent on this circuit. NLSP Hellos are sent so that NLSP systems can discover each other. They are also sent so a system that has become unreachable can be timed out of the routing table.
Hello Interval 2 of 3
If this system is routing packets, the Hello interval can be set shorter. This way, if the system abruptly becomes unavailable, other systems can route around it.
Setting the Hello interval too short causes additional traffic on your LAN or WAN. Also, a system can become unavailable for short periods of time because of out- of-buffer conditions or because the system is busy processing other events. A too short Hello interval can cause a system to become unreachable even when it
Hello Interval 3 of 3
is functioning properly. This generates a network event and a temporary connectivity loss.
Holding Timer Multiplier 1 of 3
Default: 3
Used in conjunction with the Hello interval to determine how long an NLSP system tells other routers to consider them active without having heard from them.
For example, a holding timer multiplier of 3 indicates that another router must drop this system's Hellos three times before considering this system to be no longer accessible. If this system has a holding timer
Holding Timer Multiplier 2 of 3
of 20 seconds and a holding multiplier of 3, it takes 60 seconds after a system becomes abnormally inactive before other systems recognize the new network condition.
Because packet loss is a typical event in the network, this value should not be set too low (it should never be set as low as 1).
Holding Timer Multiplier 3 of 3
Different systems can have different holding timer multipliers on the same circuit (unlike RIP and SAP). This is because the time that another system should consider this system active is present in the Hello.
Hop Count 1 of 1
Number of hops necessary to reach the destination.
If the destination is directly connected by a LAN or WAN circuit, the number of hops is one. If there is one router between this system and the destination, then the number of hops is two. The number of hops is the number of routers through which the packet flows, plus one. Bridges do not add to the hop count.
Host Address 1 of 4
Default: Local
Network layer address or the server name of the destination host. If you are managing the local system, you can also use Local which provides direct access to SNMP instrumentation.
If you are using IPX as a transport for SNMP, you can enter the file server name or the internal network number of the system that you want to manage.
SNMP Host 2 of 4
You can view a list of file servers by pressing the <Ins> key. Then select the system that you want to manage.
Internal network numbers are represented in hexadecimal notation, in the form C9BA0123.
If you are using UDP as a transport, enter the IP address of the system that you want to manage in dotted decimal notation, for example:
173.69.234.1
SNMP Host 3 of 4
Even though you have entered the address of the system you want to manage, IPXCON does not attempt to manage that system. You must exit from the options menu before IPXCON attempts to manage the new system.
When IPXCON establishes connectivity to the system you want to manage, the SNMP transport address changes to the system that you are managing.
Sometimes a system available in the services list is not manageable. This is because the IPX
SNMP Host 4 of 4
instrumentation is not operating on that system. For Novell servers and routers, you should load IPXRTRNM to provide the required instrumentation.
Incoming Packets Delivered 1 of 1
Total number of packets delivered to a local application. This includes NETBIOS, NLSP, RIP, and SAP packets. It also includes packets destined for typical IPX applications, such as NCP.
Incoming Packet Discarded 1 of 2
Number of incoming IPX packets that were discarded for reasons other than the following:
Too many hops
Header errors
Unknown sockets
Decompression errors
Packets filtered
This count might be incremented because of the following reasons:
Incoming Packets Discarded 2 of 2
A packet could not be delivered to a WAN client
A packet was spoofed
An internal condition in which interfaces are no longer available
Under most circumstances, this value should be zero. Although a value other than zero does not necessarily indicate an error condition.
Incoming Packets Filtered 1 of 1
Number of packets that have been discarded because of packet filtering. This value does not include packets filtered because of RIP or SAP filtering.
Packets Received 1 of 2
Number of IPX packets received, including RIP, SAP, NLSP, and IPX application packets, such as NCP.
This number does not include any IPX packets that were discarded because the adapter could not give the packet to the file server.
Boards might be unable to give packets to the file server because there are an insufficient number of ECBs, or because the server or router has insufficient
processing resources. Also, this count does not
Packets Received 2 of 2
include any packets dropped because the board could not process the packet.
Initial holding time 1 of 1
Default: 60 Seconds
Initial holding time requested by the NLSP system that sent this Hello.
The holding time is the period of time that this system continues to view the NLSP system that sent the Hello as active, without having refreshed the entry by another Hello.
Initialization Failures 1 of 1
Number of times this circuit could not initialize because of the following reasons:
The system on the other side of the circuit was unavailable
A hardware problem
The underlying hardware was unavailable
Novell implementations of IPX do not increment this field; therefore, it should always be zero.
Internal Network Number 1 of 1
Internal network number of the system being managed. The internal network number provides optimal routing and allows rerouting around a failed network board.
The network number must be different from all other IPX network numbers.
Network numbers are 8 hex digits long.
IPX Version 1 of 1
The version of IPX running on this system.
Level 1 Database Overloads 1 of 2
Number of times the NLSP database has become overloaded. Routers should never become overloaded. An overloaded system is unable to participate properly in routing. This causes network disruption.
There is one transient condition that might cause overloads, but does not require further action on systems that have become overloaded. This occurs when two NLSP areas are accidentally joined together and then disconnected.
Level 1 Database Overloads 2 of 2
If this router became overloaded in the past because it had insufficient memory, the condition must be rectified. You can accomplish this by adding more memory to the system or by removing unnecessary utilities from the system.
Level 1 Cost 1 of 2
NLSP cost for this circuit, which has a value from 0 to 63. Circuits with lower costs are preferred to circuits with higher costs.
All systems on a circuit (LAN or WAN) should assign the same cost for the circuit. By default, NLSP assigns costs identically on all circuits.
If the costs on the circuit are not identical, it is possible to get asymetric paths.
Level 1 Cost 2 of 2
When IPX system A sends a packet to IPX system B, it uses one path. However, when B sends a packet to A, it uses another path. This network configuration is difficult to manage.
NLSP assigns costs based on the throughput of the media. NLSP determines the cost of a LAN circuit from the interface speed, and of a WAN circuit empirically by using IPXWAN.
Level 1 Designated Router 1 of 2
Name of the designated router on this circuit. If it is not known, <unknown> is displayed. On WAN circuits, there is no designated router.
The name of the designated router is determined through LSP exchanges, and it might not be known when the designated router is elected. If the name is not displayed shortly thereafter, the LSP databases are not synchronizing.
Level 1 Designated Router 2 of 2
Check whether LSPs are being received by the system being managed. It is possible that a packet filter is preventing the LSP database from converging.
Designated Router Changes 1 of 4
Number of times the NLSP designated router has changed on this LAN (broadcast) circuit. There is no designated router on a WAN circuit; therefore, this value is not useful on those circuits.
A change of designated router on a LAN occurs because systems come up and go down from time to time. This is typical and does not impact your network.
However, frequent designated router changes take their toll on the smooth operation of the IPX internetwork.A
Designated Router Changes 2 of 4
If this circuit has frequent designated router changes, you should select a more stable system to be the designated router. You can change the designated router's priority to ensure that it becomes the designated router.
See the help under "Designated Router Priority" for further information.
Another cause of designated router changes is when systems on the network are dropping packets. This canB
Designated Router Changes 3 of 4
occur because of bad conditions on the network itself, or because systems cannot process all the network traffic.
In the former case, you should determine the problem on your LAN by using a LANalyzer Network Analyzer or similar technology. In the latter case, you might want to increase the designated router holding timer multiplier on all systems connected to that circuit.
Designated Router Changes 4 of 4
This alleviates the problem, although you should consider increasing the processing power of systems on the network.
Designated Router Priority 1 of 4
Priority used for becoming the designated router on this circuit. Because WAN circuits do not have designated routers, this field is not meaningful.
When a system initially starts, it subtracts 20 from its priority. This helps prevent a new system from becoming designated when it is does not have the network topology. If the system is elected as the designated router, it increases its priority by 20 to prevent new NLSP systems from becoming designated. [
Designated Router Priority 2 of 4
This eliminates change occurring in the network. NLSP elects the designated router first by the priority of the system, and then by the address of the network board.
Because of this mechanism, there is usually no need to configure the priority of an NLSP system. A designated router does not necessarily use more system resources.
Designated Router 3 of 4
However, if this circuit experiences many designated router changes, you might want to pick another system to be the designated router. A designated router should be one that is stable and has sufficient memory. A designated router without sufficient memory can cause connectivity loss in the network.
To select a designated router, set its priority to be at least 21 higher than the default priority. This ensures that when the system comes up, it becomes the designated router regardless of whether there is
Designated Router Priority 4 of 4
another system that has become designated router that is running with the default priority.
By looking at the NLSP neighbor screen, you can determine whether Hellos are being dropped frequently by viewing the remaining holding timer.
NLSP Overload 1 of 1
Default: No
Indicates whether the NLSP system is overloaded. An overloaded system cannot to participate in internetworking and local applications do not function properly.
Please see the help under "Detailed NLSP System Information" and "Level 1 Overloads" for further information.
Local Maximum Packet Size 1 of 1
Maximum packet size, in bytes, that this system supports on the local interface. It includes the IPX header, but not the three bytes needed for header compression.
If this is a Novell system, this value is the minimum packet size that the media supports and the size that the local ECB allows.
LSPs Received 1 of 6
LPSs describe the networking infrastructure and allow IPX NLSP routing to function. LSPs are generated infrequently, so this count should not rise often.
There are several reasons why LSPs might be generated frequently in your network. One reason is that there is a lot of change occurring in the network. Each network event requires at least one LSP to be sent to the NLSP internetwork.
LSPs Received 2 of 6
Another reason might be that you have RIP loops in your network. (It is acceptable to have an NLSP loop.)
A simple RIP loop is created when two systems are bound to the same two interfaces. For example, system A and system B are both bound to Ethernet_802.3 and Ethernet_802.2 on the same LAN.
Whenever there is a RIP loop in your network, systems might count to infinity when given an unreachable route.
LSPs Received 3 of 6
Each time a route counts to infinity, it causes many network events. This is because the cost of the route is increasing. This causes NLSP to generate a network event and another LSP.
You can prevent this problem by installing NLSP wherever you have a loop. NLSP does not suffer from this problem. In addition, you can eliminate the RIP loop from your network.
LSPs Received 4 of 6
Another cause of network events is bouncing links. In this case, a circuit might become active only to become inactive a short time later. If NLSP is operative over the circuit, it slows down reporting the network events so as not to impact the network. Also, NLSP only reports changes that have occurred on the other side of the circuit and that the link has come up.
If you are running RIP over the circuit, RIP reports that all the routes on the other end of the link have
LSPs Received 5 of 6
become unreachable, causing many network events. If you have NLSP attached to this RIP network, NLSP needs to report all these routes as unreachable in LSPs.
When the routes become reachable again, RIP reports that all routes are now reachable, causing many network events. If NLSP is attached to this RIP network, NLSP needs to report all routes as reachable. If this occurs in your network, you should immediately remove the offending routers to prevent your network
from collapsing from broadcast storms.
LSPs Received 6 of 6
Another cause of frequent LSPs being received is a network that has many neighbor changes.
Finally, in any large network changes usually occur frequently. You should examine the operational characteristics of your network to determine which of these causes is impacting your network.
LSPs Sent 1 of 1
Number of LSPs sent by this NLSP router. If an LSP is sent over two circuits, it is counted twice.
This count includes LSPs that have originated from this system and LSPs that have been received and flooded on a different network interface.
See the help for "LSPs Received" for further information.
Outgoing IPX Malformed Requests 1 of 1
Number of times an IPX application has supplied an incorrectly formatted packet to IPX.
If this number is not zero, use the MONITOR NLM to identify the IPX application that is not operating properly. Then, remove it from your system.
Maximum Hop Count 1 of 1
Default: 64 Hops
In IPX, the hop count is incremented. When an IPX packet is transmitted, the hop count is zero. This value is incremented by each router that forwards the packet, to the maximum with which the router is configured.
The maximum hop count is configured on each router. If you are using a Novell implementation of IPX, configure this through INETCFG.
Maximum Level 1 LSP Packet Size 1 of 1
Default: 512
Maximum size LSP packet that this system transmits, excluding the IPX header. This value cannot exceed the maximum packet size that can be transmitted on any WAN or LAN within the entire internetwork.
It is possible to lower the number of LSPs generated by a system by increasing the LSP size.
Maximum LSP Age 1 of 1
Default: 7500 Seconds
Maximum age, in seconds, placed in the lifetime field of LSPs. A router that receives an LSP ages it (decrements its time to live) every second. When the LSP reaches a zero lifetime, it is removed from the network.
LSPs are aged because systems can become permanently unreachable in the network. LSPs are regenerated so that systems do not disappear from the internetwork.
Maximum LSP Generation Interval 1 of 1
Default: 7200 Seconds
Frequency with which LSPs are generated.
If there are no changes to an LSP, it is regenerated after this interval. The LSP generation interval should be at least 300 seconds less than the aging interval. This prevents an LSP from being erroneously erased from the internetwork.
Maximum Path Splits 1 of 2
Default: 1 Path Split
Maximum number of equal cost paths that NLSP uses to load share, which means sending packets to the same destination through different equal cost paths.
NLSP load shares between paths of equal cost when this value is set to other than one. This occurs when the NLSP cost to reach a destination is the same through two paths.
Maximum Path Splits 2 of 2
When path splitting is used, packets can be misordered. This might cause some IPX applications to not operate properly. If you suspect that an IPX application is not operating as well as it should, turn off path splitting in the network to determine whether that is the cause.
Maximum Sequence Number Exceeded 1 of 1
Number of times this router has exceeded the NLSP Maximum Sequence Number.
The NLSP sequence space is very large. This value is so large, it would take a system over 1000 years to wrap the sequence number under the most harsh conditions. Therefore, if this number is anything other than zero, you should contact Novell Technical Support to determine the cause.
Maximum Sockets 1 of 1
Maximum number of IPX sockets that can be opened on this system at one time.
Maximum Sockets Opened 1 of 1
Maximum number of sockets that have been opened at any one time.
Media Type 1 of 1
This field contains the media type used on this circuit. Possible media types are PPP, Frame Relay, ISDN, Ethernet, or token ring.
For media such as Ethernet, there is additional information indicating the frame type. For example, the frame type can be Ethernet_802.3 or Ethernet_802.2.
Broadcast Transmission Interval 1 of 2
Default: 5 Seconds
This field contains the rate at which an LSP is retransmitted over a LAN circuit. Although LSPs are flooded immediately if an LSP is dropped, it is only retransmitted over the LAN every 10 seconds. While the retransmission of an LSP on a LAN is influenced by other timers, this timer is not dependent on other timers for the NLSP system to operate properly.
Broadcast Transmission Interval 2 of 2
The reason is that the system on the other side of the circuit acknowledges the LSP every partial sequence number interval. If this acknowledgment is not received, the LSP is retransmitted needlessly.
Minimum LSP Generation Interval 1 of 1
Default: 5 seconds
This field contains the minimum period between generating the same LSP. An LSP is generated whenever there is a network event that changes the contents of the LSP. This hold down prevents a system that is experiencing many network changes from damaging the internetwork. Some examples of network events that can cause an LSP to be regenerated are bouncing links, changing cost in an external route, and neighbor state changes.
Circuit Name or Circuit Index 1 of 1
This field contains the name or index of the circuit. If this is a LAN circuit, then the circuit name is the name of the LAN board, as specified by the load command or as defined in INETCFG. If the name of the circuit was specified in INETCFG, then a frame type suffix is appended to the circuit name. If no name was given to the board, then the circuit index is displayed.
For WANs, the name of the router on the other end of the circuit is displayed.H
Non-Broadcast Transmission Interval 1 of 2
Default: 10 Seconds
Minimum interval, in seconds, at which an LSP is transmitted over a non-broadcast link. This value determines how frequently new LSPs are sent over WAN media.
This value must be greater than the non-broadcast PSNP interval because over WANs, LSPs are acknowledged with PSNPs. If an LSP has not been acknowledged by the next transmission interval, the LSP is sent again.
Non-Broadcast Transmission Interval 2 of 2
If this value is too low, it slows the rate at which old information is deleted from the network and the rate at which new information is made available.
Next Hop Router Name 1 of 1
This field contains the name of the next hop router if the next hop is within the NLSP area. <Unknown> is displayed if the next hop router's name is unknown.
Destination Name 1 of 1
This field contains the name of the destination if the destination is an NLSP system. <Unknown> is displayed if the name is not available.
Name Service 1 of 1
This field contains the name of the service being advertised by a destination.
Nearest Level II Router 1 of 1
This field contains the name, or the system ID if the name is unavailable, of the nearest Level II router. This field is blank if there is no Level II router.
If a system cannot forward a packet because the destination route is unknown, it sends it to the nearest Level II router.
Neighbor's NIC Address 1 of 1
This field contains the data-link address of the neighboring system's card.
System Identifier 1 of 1
This field is the NLSP System Identifier for the neighboring router. System IDs must be different for all NLSP systems. To determine whether this system has a duplicate system ID, check whether the Sequence Number Skips counter is rising.
Neighbor Type 1 of 1
This is the type of the neighboring NLSP system. It is either Level 1 or Level 2.
Neighbor Index 1 of 1
This field contains the unique index of this neighbor within the circuit. This field enables SNMP access to the neighbors on this circuit as a table.
Neighbor Name 1 of 2
This field contains the name of the neighboring NLSP system. If the neighbor name is not known, the system ID of the NLSP neighbor is displayed.
The neighbor name is not known until an LSP from the other system is received. If this system is initializing, it is likely that the name is not known. If the neighbor has entered the Up state, then the neighbor name should be known soon. If it is in the Up state and not learned, then the LSP database is not synchronizing.
Neighbor Name 2 of 2
If this is the case, you should troubleshoot the problem by using a LANalyzer Network Analyzer to determine why the databases are not synchronizing.
Neighbor State Changes 1 of 3
Number of times that a neighbor has changed its state on this circuit. Neighbors change state usually when a system comes up, goes down, or changes its priority. If this value is increasing frequently on the circuit, one of several errors is indicated.
Either systems are coming up and going down frequently, as might occur in a large bridged environment, or Hello packets are being lost.
Neighbor State Changes 2 of 3
Hello packets might be lost for several reasons. A system may have insufficient processing power or ECBs to handle all incoming traffic. The board might not be fast enough to handle all incoming traffic or the LAN or WAN circuit might be dropping packets.
Increasing the Holding Timer Multiplier can help to alleviate this problem, although other steps might be necessary. Rapidly rising neighbor state changes are an indication that other problems might exist with the circuit.
Neighbor State Changes 3 of 3
A neighbor state change causes network wide events and are not isolated to the particular WAN or LAN.
NetBIOS Packets Received 1 of 1
This field contains the number of IPX NetBIOS packets (packet type 20).
Network Number 1 of 1
This field contains the network number of this circuit or (none) if there is no network number. All IPX LANs have a network number associated with them. Only RIP requires a network number for WAN connectivity.
Destination Network Number 1 of 1
This field contains the destination system's network number.
Next Hop Network Number 1 of 1
This field contains the network number of the next hop to the destination.
Network Number 1 of 1
This field contains the IPX network number at which this service resides.
NLSP 1 of 3
Indicates whether NLSP information can be sent and received on this circuit. On means that NLSP is enabled; Off means that NLSP is disabled.
If NLSP is operational on this system, turning NLSP Off on a circuit does not prevent NLSP from accepting RIP routes and SAP services into the NLSP network. Using NLSP in this way can increase the information in your network.
NLSP 2 of 3
NLSP has specific protocols to allow the smooth migration of your network. For example, only the designated router accepts RIP and SAP from a LAN and provides it to the NLSP domain.
Only the best RIP routes are accepted into an NLSP network. There is little reason to disable NLSP to prevent routes from being accepted into the network more than once. In fact, disabling NLSP can have the opposite effect. However, you might want to prevent
NLSP 3 of 3
two NLSP systems from becoming neighbors, because you are setting up two NLSP areas.
A configuration like this is used to build NLSP areas. NLSP areas create firewalls between administrative domains (RIP and SAP filtering can be applied). This also prevents the amount of link state information from becoming unmanageable.
See the NetWare MultiProtocol Router Rules of Thumb for information on NLSP areas and planning for them.
Next NLSP Router Name 1 of 1
This field contains the name of the next hop NLSP router, if the next hop is within the NLSP area. <Unknown> is displayed if the next hop router's name is not known.
NLSP Neighbors 1 of 1
Select this field to view the neighboring NLSP systems on this circuit.
The list contains all the routers active on the LAN circuit that this system has in its table. Or, it contains the system on the other end of the link if this is a WAN circuit.
NLSP State 1 of 1
This field contains the operational state of NLSP on this system. NLSP can be disabled or it can be operational as a Level 1 system.
No Route Found 1 of 1
Number of IPX packets discarded because the system had no way to progress the packet to its destination, either by forwarding the packet to a known destination or to a Level II router.
Usually, the lack of a route means that there is no path to the destination. However, designated router changes on LANs cause brief connectivity loss when none might be expected. See the help text for Designated Router Changes under NLSP Circuit for more information.
Node 1 of 1
This field contains the node portion of this services' IPX address.
Non-Broadcast Hello Interval 1 of 3
Default: 20 Seconds
Frequency that packets are sent over a WAN circuit. Hellos must be periodically sent so that the system on the other side of the WAN circuit refreshes the timeout interval for the system.
The lower this value is set, the faster network errors, such as a broken link or crashed system, can be detected. However, this also means that Hellos are
sent more frequently, which uses WAN bandwidth.
Non-Broadcast Hello Interval 2 of 3
The time that the system on the other end of the link should maintain this system in the absence of a Hello, is equal to the holding timer multiplier multiplied by the Hello interval.
Occasionally, systems are unable to process Hellos when they are busy forwarding or performing other tasks. Setting the Hello interval too short might cause the link to bounce frequently. When a link bounces in this way, a network-wide event is generated requiring processing by all systems in the network.
Non-Broadcast Hello Interval 3 of 3
The default holding timer multiplier is 3. This means that it takes 60 seconds for a lost link or inaccessible system to be recognized by the other NLSP system.
Open Socket Failures 1 of 1
This field contains the number of IPX socket open calls that have failed.
Outgoing Packets Discarded 1 of 2
This field displays the number of outgoing packets that have been discarded. Errors that are counted include being unable to send to a system for internal reasons, or because the system was known to be unavailable, such as to a WAN client.
This counter does not include these errors:
No Route Found
Malformed Requests
Outgoing Packets Discarded 2 of 2
Compression Errors
Packets Filtered
Outgoing Packets Filtered 1 of 1
This field displays the number of outgoing packets filtered because of a packet filter.
Outgoing Packets Sent 1 of 2
Number of IPX packets queued for transmission at the data link. This includes those packets queued for transmission that have been dropped by the data link.
The data link can drop packets for several reasons. The LAN to which the board is connected might have network errors that prevent the board from transmitting the packet. Or, the board may have a hardware or software error.
Outgoing Packets Sent 2 of 2
For WAN circuits, the circuit throughput might be
insufficient to transmit all the supplied packets to the destination.
Finally, the system might have insufficient CPU resources to process all outgoing packets.
Outgoing Requests 1 of 1
This field displays the number of outgoing IPX transmission requests. This includes those packets that have been filtered by the IPX packet filter.
Outgoing requests include requests from RIP, SAP, NLSP, and from other IPX applcations, such as NCP.
Own LSP Purges 1 of 3
This field displays the number of times another system has purged this system's LSP. A system determines that an LSP is its own by the system ID. Purging another system's LSP occurs when two systems have the same ID.
When a system generates an LSP, it sets the lifetime field of the LSP to be the maximum generation interval. Even if the system becomes unavailable, the LSP is not purged from the network. When this system becomes active again, it is possible that some other
system has one or more zero-aged copies of this )
Own LSP Purges 2 of 3
system's LSPs. This is a typical network event that occurs at startup.
After startup, it is possible that another system is purging this system's LSPs. This occurs because the two systems have the same system ID, and one system is purging another system's LSPs.
If this system is a NetWare MultiProtocol Router or a Novell implementation of NLSP, then NLSP should submit
error messages to the screen indicating the server
Own LSP Purges 3 of 3
name and internal network number of the system with the same system ID.
Systems with the same system ID cause network-wide events. This can cause extra traffic and require extra processing by all NLSP systems. When two systems have the same system ID, remove one of the systems from the network and configure it with a new system ID.
Sequence Numbers being skipped is another indication of this problem.
Destination Information 1 of 1
Displays information about the destination. It provides the total path cost, as well as the next hop system.
You can also view the services that are reachable at the destination by selecting the services field. These are only the services that are visible from this system.
PSNP Interval 1 of 2
Default: 1 Second
Used to acknowledge LSPs on WAN circuits and to request LSPs on LAN circuits. During every PSNP Interval, NLSP checks to see whether it needs to acknowledge or request an LSP.
The PSNP Interval must be significantly shorter than the Non-Broadcast LSP Transmission Interval over WAN circuits. NLSP systems retransmit LSPs every transmission interval until they are acknowledged
PSNP Interval 2 of 2
with a PSNP. If the PSNP interval is longer than the transmission interval, then LSPs are always retransmitted.
On LAN circuits, the PSNP interval is not related to any other timer in any significant way. One exception, is that PSNP intervals, along with the CSNP and Broadcast Transmission intervals, determine how quickly a lost LSP retransmitted.
Circuit Neighbors 1 of 1
Displays the NLSP neighbors on this circuit.
Level 1 Designated Router 1 of 1
LSP ID of the designated router. This is the number that the designated router places in LSPs to distinguish between pseudo nodes that the router generates on different circuits.
The LSP ID of the pseudo node is the system ID of the designated router, plus a one byte pseudo node identifier that is unique over all LAN circuits.
Packets Forwarded 1 of 4
This field displays the number of packets forwarded by this system.
Forwarding occurs when a packet is sent to the server or router and is destined for another network. Novell file servers have forwarding as an intrinsic part of the server product offering in NetWare versions 2, 3, and 4.
Packets Forwarded 2 of 4
If this is a file server, you might want to offload the routing function from the system to free up the system to process file services.
If you are running a RIP network, you can turn off routing in one of two ways. If you are loading IPXRTR manually, load it with the routing=none option. If you are using INETCFG, choose the non-routing option.
Packets Forwarded 3 of 4
Then you can connect a Novell router to the same LAN circuits as your router. As a result, your internetwork continues to operate as it did before.
IPXRTR operates on NetWare 3 and later. You should not use the routing=none option if you are using NLSP. Doing so in an NLSP network causes RIP and SAP to become operative.
Packets Forwarded 4 of 4
If you are running an NLSP network, then increase the circuit costs of each interface to their maximum, 63. You can do this through INETCFG. This prevents other NLSP routers from routing through this server. You also need to add a filter so that this server does not respond to workstation RIP requests except for its internal network number. You can do this through an exception filter. Then attach a Novell Muliti Protocol Router. As a result, IPX internetwork will continue to function as before.
Potential Paths 1 of 2
Select to view the potential paths from this system to the destination.
If there is one path, then that path alone is displayed. If there is more than one path, then the list of potential paths is displayed.
If there is a single path, then that path should be used for forwarding from this system to the destination (unless there is a temporary routing inconsistency).
Potential Paths 2 of 2
If there is more than one path, then some of the paths can be used. This depends on the number of path splits you have configured and the way that load sharing picks paths. At most, 256 potential paths are displayed.
Any potential path should be a potential path on the downstream system. One exception is when there is a temporary inconsistency due to network events.P
Neighbor Priority 1 of 4
Priority for becoming the designated router on this circuit. Because WAN circuits do not have designated routers, this field is not meaningful for WAN systems.
When a system starts initially, it subtracts 20 from its priority. This helps prevent a new system from becoming designated when it does not have the network topology. If the system is elected designated router, it increases its priority by 20 to prevent new NLSP systems from becoming designated.H
Neighbor Priority 2 of 4
This reduces the amount of change occurring on the network. NLSP elects the designated router first by the priority of the system, and second by the address of the network card.
Because of this mechanism, you usually do not need to configure the priority of an NLSP system. It is not significantly more resource (CPU or memory) intensive to act as the designated router.^
Neighbor Priority 3 of 4
If this circuit experiences many designated router changes, you might want to pick a system to be the designated router. A designated router should be one that is stable and that has sufficient memory. A designated router without sufficient memory can cause connectivity loss to the network.
To select a designated router, you must set its priority to be at least 21 higher than the default priority.@
Neighbor Priority 4 of 4
This ensures that when the system comes up, it becomes designated router. This is regardless of whether there is another system that has become a designated router that is running with the default priority.
By looking at the NLSP neighbor screen, you can determine whether hellos are being dropped frequently by viewing the remaining holding timer.
Protocol 1 of 1
Protocol by which this destination was learned. It can be either RIP, NLSP, or Local.
A destination can be an NLSP system and yet show up as a RIP system. The reason this occurs is that NLSP systems must be connected with NLSP to see each other as NLSP systems.
Rejected Neighbors 1 of 1
Number of times that an NLSP system has rejected a neighbor. This occurs when the area addresses are configured differently on different NLSP systems.
You do not need to configure NLSP area addresses in the first release of NLSP. If two neighbors reject each other, then they cannot communicate.
Remaining Holding Time 1 of 2
Amount of time left before this neighbor is considered to be inactive.
NLSP Neighbors communicate with each other periodically to verify connectivity. They do this every hello interval. If neighbors are timing out, or if they appear to be about to time out, then you might want to increase the holding timer multiplier on that system. The result of increasing this timer is more hellos need to be dropped before considering the system to be inactive.
Remaining Holding Time 2 of 2
There are several reasons why a neighbor times out. One reason is that the neighbor cannot transmit hellos because it has insufficient CPU or memory resources.
Another is that this system is cannot receive packets sent to it. This might be due to insufficient ECBs, bad adapter cards, or because of problems with the underlying WAN or LAN circuit.
Poll Interval 1 of 2
Frequency with which the system updates active counters.
There are two values, one for are polling the local system and one for polling a remote system.
Changing the polling value for the local system does not change the polling value for remote systems. Changing the value for remote systems does not change the polling value for the local system.
Request Poll Interval 2 of 2
The default polling interval for a local system is one second. For remote systems, the default polling value is five seconds.
RIP State 1 of 3
Operation state of RIP on this circuit. It has the values On, Off, or Auto.
When RIP is off, only the workstation-to-router part of RIP is operational. This means that no triggered or periodic RIP updates are sent or received on this interface. Although, workstations continue to receive responses to route requests.
If the RIP state is ON, then RIP periodic and triggered updates are sent on this circuit.
RIP State 2 of 3
If the RIP state is Auto, then RIP operates only when another RIP system is detected on the network. This mode should only be used in conjunction with NLSP. If RIP is active on the circuit, the field displays Auto (Active). Otherwise, it displays Auto (Inactive).
There might be end node implementations of RIP that require the RIP updates to function properly. UnixWare(tm) is one such implementation.
RIP State 3 of 3
If you have a UnixWare system on this LAN circuit, then you should turn RIP to On. Do this even if you are migrating your network to NLSP. Auto mode does not detect the presence of UnixWare.
In RIP auto mode, IPXRTR detects the presence of other RIP routers and of NetWare 2 systems.
If you are migrating your network to NLSP, you should turn RIP to Off after migrating a circuit.
RIP State 1 of 1
Default: Enabled
Indicates whether RIP has been enabled to run on this system. The RIP state can be Enabled, Disabled, or Unknown if the information was unavailable through SNMP.
SAP 1 of 2
Indicates whether periodic SAP is sent or received on this interface. It has the values On, Off, Auto (Active), and Auto (Inactive).
Even if SAP is off, IPXRTR continues to advertise services that are present locally on the interface, such as print servers, through NLSP. NLSP also continues to respond to workstation requests for services. If you have migrated a network to NLSP, you should turn SAP to Off on the circuit.
SAP State 2 of 2
There might be end node implementations of IPX that need SAP to function. Three of these implementations are UnixWare, NetWare 2, and OS/2 named pipes.
If SAP is operating in auto mode, it detects the presence of NetWare 2, but it does not detect the presence of UnixWare or OS/2 named pipes. You should configure SAP to On for these products to function properly.
SAP State 1 of 1
Indicates the operational state of SAP on this system. It can be Enabled, Disabled, or Unknown. The SAP state is Unknown if the system has not instrumented the appropriate part of the IPX MIB.
Area Addresses 1 of 3
Default: 0:0
Lists all system and actual area addresses.
Area addresses are used to create NLSP areas. All NLSP systems in the same area must have the same area address. Those systems that do not share the same area addresses do not become neighbors. Consequently, they cannot communicate with each other.P-
Area Addresses 2 of 3
If you are installing the first release of NLSP, all systems in the network should use the default area address, 0:0, to prevent lose of connectivity.
If NLSP is operating RIP on a circuit, it automatically filters RIP routes that are not included in the area.
System area addresses is the set of locally configured area addresses. Actual area addresses also includes all those area addresses from other NLSP systems
Area Addresses 3 of 3
in the area. If there are more than three area addresses, the lowest three are maintained.
Actual and System area addresses should match, except during transitions. If the Actual and System area addresses do not match, it is possible that there is a misconfiguration in the network that might later cause loss of connectivity in the NLSP area.
Attached Routers 1 of 2
All routers attached to the selected LAN.
The processing to determine the attached routers is done by probing the NLSP graph. This might be different than the actual attached routers because the information linking the router to the network has not been received yet. Although, it should take only a short time before that information becomes available.
Attached Routers 2 of 2
The attached routers should be the same as the NLSP neighbors shown by routers on the same network.
The type field indicates what level router is operative on the network.
Circuit Information 1 of 1
Gives you a snapshot view of the current circuit from this router's perspective.
It includes information about the physical configuration of the circuit, as well as information about the operation of the IPX protocols over this circuit.
Detailed Circuit Information 1 of 1
Select to view more detailed information about the operation of the routing protocols over this circuit. Also displayed is detailed information about the operation of the header compression algorithms.
Circuits Table 1 of 2
Contains a list of circuits that are currently operational at the IPX level.
Each circuit displayed has the following information:
Name (or index if the name is not present) of the circuit
Type of circuit, Broadcast (for LANs) or Non-Broadcast (for WANs)
State of the circuit, Up, Down, or Sleeping
Circuits Table 2 of 3
If this is a Novell implementation of IPX, then the operational state is not Down.
The total number of circuits bar at the bottom of the circuits table is the total number of circuits known to this NLSP system. The total number of circuits in the main title is updated in background. However, the circuits table is a snapshot of the circuits available when the screen was entered.
Circuits Table 3 of 3
It is possible that the total number of circuits is different than what is displayed in the main title. A circuit could have been added or removed since the circuits table menu was entered.
NLSP Destination Information 1 of 1
Displays information about the destination from this system's vantage point. It includes next hop information, as well as the path characteristics to reach the destination.
You can view the services present on this destination, as well as the potential paths that NLSP might use to reach the destination.
Detailed IPX Information 1 of 1
Displays several additional counters. Some of these counters should always be zero. A nonzero counter indicates a network fault that should be investigated. These errors are Header Errors and Malformed Requests.
The other counters vary in severity, and should have low counts under normal operation. The exception to this guideline is Type 20 Packets.
Detailed NLSP System Information 1 of 1
Displays specific information about the operation of this NLSP system. Some of these fields should never be zero. These counters are Corrupt LSPs, Level 1 Database Overloads, and Maximum Sequence Number Exceeded.
Other fields might indicate error conditions in your network. These fields are Own LSP Purges and Sequence Number Skips. These values should not increase after system startup.
Forwarding Table 1 of 4
Contains all known IPX destination networks. It includes a server's internal network numbers as well as LAN network numbers.
You can sort this list by pressing the F2 key. The sorting options include sorting by circuit, routing protocol, and network number. After a sort, the list is refreshed.
You might select an entry that is no longer a known destination. This occurs when the destination has
Forwarding Table 2 of 4
become unreachable in the network, but before you have selected the entry.
This list includes the network number of the destination, the routing protocol through which the destination was learned, the first hop circuit to the destination, and the name of the destination.
The network number is the 8-digit hex IPX network number.
Forwarding Table 3 of 4
The protocol is Local if the destination is the local system or if the destination network is locally attached. It is RIP if NLSP accepted this route by participating in the RIP routing protocol or if the system is running in RIP only mode. It is NLSP if the destination network is represented through the NLSP protocol.
The Circuit name is the name of the first hop circuit to the destination.
Forwarding Table 4 of 4
The destination name is the name of the destination, if it is known. The name only applies to NLSP routers.
You can select a destination network to display additional information. This information includes the address of the first hop router, any services that are accessible on the network, characteristics of the path to the system if this is to an NLSP destination, and the path used to reach the destination if this is an NLSP destination.
IPXCON Options 1 of 1
Allows you to control the operation of IPXCON through your internetwork.
Using the controls in this menu, you can select the following:
Background polling rate
Protocol
Timeout values
System that you want to manage
IPX Information 1 of 1
Displays the basic IPX information about this system. Some of the counters in this screen are duplicated in the main title and they should be consistent.
IPX Router Information 1 of 1
Describes the basic IPX configuration of this system. In Novell implementations, SAP and RIP are always enabled, even if they are not currently operative.
IPXCON 1 of 25
The IPXCON main menu contains the following options:
SNMP Access Configuration
This option allows you to change SNMP parameters, to increase the poll rate, increase the number of retries for a request, select a different IPX system to manage, change the community string, and change the protocol that you are using to manage systems.
IPXCON 2 of 25
IPX Information
Displays a snapshot of vital IPX statistics. These include packets sent and received by the system, number of packets delivered or supplied locally for transmission, and number of packets sent. In addition, there are more detailed screens that include error counts, such as number of packets received with invalid headers.
IPXCON 3 of 25
IPX Router Information
Provides snapshot information about the operation of NLSP, RIP, and SAP on this system.QR
IPXCON 4 of 25
NLSP Information
Provides detailed information about the operational state of your network, including statistics indicating the basic health of this NLSP system. In addition, you can view the current NLSP LANs and systems in your network as well as information about all NLSP neighbors known to this system.
IPXCON 5 of 25
Circuits
Displays a table of all the IPX circuits on this system. If you are operating NLSP on this system, you can determine how well the protocol is operating on this network through additional information available in the submenus.
IPXCON 6 of 25
Forwarding
Displays a table of all known IPX destination networks. It also provides information about the first hop router, the cost to reach the destination, any services accessible on the destination, and whether you are using NLSP detailed information about the path characteristics to the destination.
IPXCON 7 of 25
Services
Displays a table listing all services known to this system. It provides detailed information about destinations offering the service.
IPXCON 8 of 25
IPXCON Main Title
Keeps counters for the number of packets received by this system, the number of packets sent, the number of forwarded packets, the number of active local circuits, the number of known networks, the number of known services, and the address of the current system that is being managed.
These are updated every update interval.
IPXCON 9 of 25
The following concepts are used in IPXCON, that might help you to use it more effectively.
A Destination is either a network representing a LAN or a WAN that is reachable through the internetwork by this system.
There are two kinds of network numbers, internal network numbers and network numbers assigned to LANs and some WANs.[\
IPXCON 10 of 25
Internal network numbers are used so that packets are forwarded directly to routers.
All network numbers in an IPX internetwork must be unique. If two systems have the same network number, two LANs have the same network number, or if a system's internal network number is the same as a LAN, forwarding does not work properly.
IPXCON 11 of 25
Circuits are an attachment of a system to a LAN or a WAN. In IPX, circuits are used rather than interfaces, because an interface refers to a port, for example, to an X.25 or Frame Relay port. However, an interface can have mulitiple connections over the same port. IPX makes each of these connections visible as a circuit.
NLSP uses an additional concept with circuits. NLSP distinguishes between Broadcast and Non-Broadcast circuits. Broadcast media can address
IPXCON 12 of 25
multiple systems with one packet. This is referred to as a broadcast packet. Some wide area technologies replicate this facility. One is SMDS, another is Frame Relay. Other wide area technologies do not provide this facility, such as X.25 and ISDN. Because NLSP treats Broadcast circuits identically, it creates a single circuit type Broadcast to define both LAN circuits and WAN circuits that support broadcast. It refers to the other types of WAN circuits as
Non-Broadcast.<c
IPXCON 13 of 25
Routing protocols use the IPX network address to determine where to forward packets. A router forwards packets to systems that are closer to the destination network number.
RIP uses hops and ticks to forward packets to the destination network. In NetWare 3.11 and earlier, RIP used routes with the least numbers of hops to reach the destination. In NetWare 3.12 and later, RIP uses routes with the least number of ticks./e
IPXCON 14 of 25
NLSP uses cost to reach an NLSP destination, but it uses the least ticks when forwarding to a RIP destination.
SAP is a service advertising protocol that associates a destination IPX address to a user friendly name. The IPX address is used to forward packets.
The RIP table is the table of all known RIP routes. RIP routers periodically send their tables on all
IPXCON 15 of 25
circuits so that other routers can build a complete table of all the destination network numbers.
SAP tables are similar, and SAP operates on the same principles as RIP.
NLSP sends link state information to all its neighbors. Link state uses a representation of the network that allows each system to determine the best way to get to their destinations.Oi
IPXCON 16 of 25
To maintain its neighbors, NLSP sends Hellos on all circuits to which it is attached. NLSP uses Link State Packets (LSPs) to describe the network topology. All connected NLSP systems should have the same set of LSPs.
On Broadcast circuits (LAN circuits), NLSP periodic- ally sends a Complete Sequence Number Packet (CSNP), which can be broken into more than one packet, to ensure that all NLSP systems on the LAN have the same LSPs.1k
IPXCON 17 of 25
Finally, NLSP sends Partial Sequence Number Packets (PSNPs) to request missing LSPs on LANs, and to acknowledge LSPs over WANs.
On each LAN running NLSP, there is a designated router. It is responsible for sending the CSNPs, and also for generating the LSPs to connect the LAN to all the active routers. It also sends system LSPs that they missed.1m
IPXCON 18 of 25
Network events occur in NLSP whenever there is a change in the network. This can occur because a system has come up, gone down, or because of a change in the designated router on a LAN. Each of these network events requires new LSPs to be sent, and all systems to process the change.
In some of the IPXCON screens, certain events might signal that the system is losing packets.To
IPXCON 19 of 25
Finally, "jitter" is a concept that is applied to all timers that cause NLSP to send NLSP packets. Jitter is used to prevent a network from synchronizing.
Synchronization in routers causes all systems to send their updates at the same time. This is a cause of broadcast storms. Whenever you view an NLSP timer value, the actual firing of the timer can occur anywhere from 75 percent to 100 percent of the value.Iq
IPXCON 20 of 25
A system can lose packets from time to time, but a system that is frequently losing packets is a liability to the network.
This section gives some hints on how to find out why a system is losing packets, and what can be done to prevent the problem.
On a NetWare system, ECBs (Event Control Blocks) are used to send IPX and other protocol packets through the system.
IPXCON 21 of 25
Processes in the NetWare system operate on ECBs to provide the communications infrastructure.
ECBs are sent to LAN and WAN boards for transmission onto the physical media.
Sometimes, a board cannot transmit an ECB because of some problem with the media. This could be due to excessive collisions on an Ethernet, other problems with the media, or the board is malfunctioning. In the case of a WAN board, ECBs might be queued, because
IPXCON 22 of 25
the underlying link has insufficient capacity to accept the contents of the ECB. Some queueing is normal for a board. However, while ECBs are queued for transmission, your system has fewer available ECBs to process incoming packets.
Another cause of queued ECBs is that the processor or bus of the system has insufficient resources to handle the traffic flow. In this event, you might want to use a faster processor or machine to prevent the problem.cw
IPXCON 23 of 25
Also, some boards require more CPU than others to receive packets.
If you have a slow WAN and you cannot increase its throughput, you should not increase the number of packets for its queue. This only makes the problem worse.
Rather, you should take the following steps:
IPXCON 24 of 25
First, turn on IPX header compression. This decreases the amount of traffic by six to ten percent. Secondly, if you are running RIP and SAP, you can decrease the pacing interval to spread out the updates. If you are using PPP, you can turn on PPP compression.
Another reason that a system might be losing ECBs is that the board is not fast enough to receive all the packets. Although this is extremely rare, you can
upgrade the board to a more efficient one.
IPXCON 25 of 25
If none of these problems seem to be the cause of your system dropping packets, you might want to use MONITOR to isolate the component in your NetWare system that is holding on to ECBs. It might be that there is an errant application that needs to be removed from the system.#}
Known LANs 1 of 3
List of LANs known to NLSP on this system. Each entry displays the following:
Throughput: The minimum throughput in bits per second available in the path to this network.
Delay: The propogation delay, in microseconds, to reach this network.
Unreachable: Displayed only if the network is not currently reachable, but was at one time.
Known LANs 2 of 3
If the NLSP system is importing RIP routes on a circuit, the prompt RIP Active is displayed. An NLSP system might still be sending RIP updates on the circuit, even though RIP is not importing routes actively.
If two systems are connected to the same network number but do not have actual connectivity, then both systems claim to be attached to that network. One of these networks shows up as unreachable in this screen.
Known LANs 3 of 3
This can occur because of connectivity loss on the LAN, such as when a bridge, hub, or adapter card fails. It might also be due to a misconfiguration.
Misconfigured network numbers can cause network connectivity loss, and so the problem should be resolved.
Known NLSP Routers 1 of 1
The known NLSP routers by this NLSP system. Each entry contains the following:
The name of the router.
Unreachable is displayed if this system is not
reachable, but was at one time.
Overloaded is displayed if the system is
overloaded (has run out of memory to perform
the NLSP protocol).
Known Services 1 of 1
Displays the services available in the network that are known to this system.
The name of the service is displayed, as well as the type. In addition, the name of the circuit on which this service was learned is also displayed (the next hop to the reach the service). You can select a service to obtain additional information.
NLSP System Neighbors 1 of 1
Displays the NLSP neighbors known to this system.}
NLSP Information 1 of 5
Contains options to view information about the NLSP network and this NLSP system. The following options are displayed:
System Information
Information about the operational state of this NLSP system.
NLSP Information 2 of 5
Area Addresses
The list of area addresses that this system is configured with, as well as the area addresses that are being used in this NLSP area.
NLSP Information 3 of 5
Neighbors
All the NLSP neighbors that are known to this system, their current state, and the circuits on which the system is a neighbor.
NLSP Information 4 of 5
Routers
All the NLSP routers that are known in the NLSP network, including some that are still visible, although they are unreachable. This also indicates whether there are any overloaded routers in the network. You can select a router to determine which LANs the router is attached to and which routers it is connected to by WAN circuits.
NLSP Information 5 of 5
LANs
You can select this menu to view all LANs known in the NLSP network. Also, this form includes whether the LAN is reachable and whether RIP is being imported on the network. Selecting one of the LANs indicates which NLSP systems are active on the LAN.
NLSP Neighbors 1 of 3
NLSP neighbors known to this system.
If known, the NLSP neighbor name is displayed. The NLSP neighbor name is obtained from LSPs, which are transmitted after a neighbor enters the Up state with the designated router. If a neighbor is continually in the Up state but does not have a name, then there is some problem with your network. You should use a LANalyzer Network Analyzer or similar device to troubleshoot the network.
NLSP Neighbors 2 of 3
A system can become its own neighbor if it has more than one adapter attached to the same network.
The circuit name on which this NLSP neighbor was learned is also displayed.
Finally, the state of the neighbor is displayed. The state can be Up, Down, or Initializing. If a system is always in the Initializing state in relation to all other NLSP systems on the LAN, this indicates that the system can send but not receive. If a system shows all
NLSP Neighbors 3 of 3
other systems on the LAN in the initializing state, this indicates that the system can receive but not send. In either of these cases, problems are likely due to a malfunctioning adapter card.
If a system is in the Down state on a WAN, it indicates that the area addresses of the systems do not match. In both the LAN and WAN case in which area addresses are misconfigured, the Detailed Circuit Information counter Initialization Failures will increase.
NLSP System Information 1 of 1
Displays basic NLSP information about this system.
Potential Paths List 1 of 1
List of potential paths to the destination network. The list is truncated if there are more than 256 potential paths.
You can select one of the paths to determine how packets might flow to the destination. Any downstream NLSP router should continue forwarding a packet sent to it to the destination, along one of the potential paths displayed here.
Router Information 1 of 3
List of all LANs attached to this router and all routers attached to this router through point-to-point (WAN) circuits.
If this router is unreachable, the information that is displayed might be inaccurate.
The attachment field is either an attachment to a network (which means that the router is either attached to a LAN or this is an NLSP router running [
Router Information 2 of 3
RIP compatibility over a WAN) or the attachment is to another router over a point to point link.
The network number is the network number of the LAN. NLSP WAN links do not have network numbers.
The media type is the media of the circuit. For example, this can be Ethernet II for a LAN and Frame Relay for a WAN.
Router Information 3 of 3
The throughput is the throughput of the connected circuit. It is not an accumulated value. The throughput is in bits per second.
The delay is the delay of the router to send a packet to the circuit, in microseconds. For LANs, this is fixed at 200 microseconds. For WANs, this is empirically determined with the IPXWAN protocol.
Service Information 1 of 1
Displays information about the service. The name and location of the service is displayed, if it is available, along with the socket.
The IPX address of the service is also available on this screen. At the bottom of the screen, the total number of services in the network is displayed. This number is a snapshot at the time this screen was entered because the list is not dynamic.C
Sequence Number Skips 1 of 3
Occurs when another NLSP system sends this system an LSP that this system considers to be its own. A system determines that an LSP is its own because the system ID in the LSP is the same as this system's system ID.
When a system generates an LSP, it sets the lifetime field of the LSP to be the maximum generation interval. Even if the system becomes unavailable, the LSP is not purged from the network.
Sequence Number Skips 2 of 3
When the system becomes active again, another NLSP system transmits the LSP to this system. This NLSP system can then regenerate the LSP because it contains outdated information. This is a normal network event that occurs at startup.
After startup, however, it is possible that LSPs are being skipped because there is another system in the network with the same system ID as this NLSP system.
If this system is a Multi Protocol Router or a Novell
implementation of NLSP, then NLSP submits error
Sequence Number Skips 3 of 3
messages to the screen indicating the server name and internal network number of the system with the same system ID.
Systems with the same system ID cause network wide events as well as extra traffic. This requires extra processing by all NLSP systems. If a system is discovered with the same system ID as another system, remove one of the systems from the network and configure it with a new system ID.
Service Type 1 of 1
If there is a known string for the service, then this string is displayed. If there is not a known string, then only the hexadecimal service type is displayed.
Number Of Services 1 of 1
Number of services currently reachable from this system.
Transport Protocol 1 of 1
Choose either IPX, UDP/IP, or Local to manage the IPX system. You need to make sure that the address of the destination you want to manage uses the appropriate addressing form. If you choose Local, you can only manage the local system.
Timeout 1 of 1
Amount of time, in seconds, to which IPXCON waits for the SNMP request to be responded.
IPX Socket 1 of 1
IPX socket on which this service is available. IPX sockets are used for demultiplexing incoming IPX packets.
Neighbor State 1 of 2
State of the neighbor system. The state can have the following values: Initializing, Up, Down, or Failed.
A neighbor that constantly remains in the Initializing state probably cannot receive packets from this system. This is usually because of a malfunctioning board, or because the board has been misconfigured.
It might also be that the board cannot receive on the multicast channel, in which case you should configure
Neighbor State 2 of 2
the default which operates NLSP on the broadcast address (FF-FF-FF-FF-FF-FF).
If a WAN neighbor is in the Down State, then it is likely that the two NLSP systems do not share an area address in common. As a result, they can not become neighbors. You should rectify this situation by either running RIP between the two NLSP systems or by configuring both systems with the same set of area addresses.
State Changes 1 of 1
Number of times this circuit has changed state. This field is unused by Novell's implementation of IPX.
System Identifier 1 of 2
NLSP System Identifier is used to distinguish between NLSP systems. Like network numbers, each NLSP system identifier must be different on all NLSP systems. NLSP derives its system identifier from the internal network number of the server. If two systems are misconfigured with the same system identifier, the systems generate network events continually (about every ten seconds).
System Identifier 2 of 2
You can manually configure the system identifier from the NIC address of a network board used by this system. You can only use boards for token ring, Ethernet, and FDDI LANs for this purpose. This ensures that all NLSP systems have different system identifiers, even if there are network number misconfigurations.
Throughput 1 of 1
Throughput, or estimated throughput, on this circuit.
Over LANs, the value is provided by the board, and is fixed at the media speed. Over WANs, the IPXWAN protocol estimates the throughput available. Over congested, packet-switched networks like X.25, this value might be lower than the maximum throughput.
Also, compression is not accounted for. Note that over WANs this is an estimation. Also, virtual token rings are assigned a throughput of 4Mbps.
Ticks 1 of 1
Estimated number of ticks to transmit a packet to the destination network. Ticks are measured in 18ths of a second.
Each LAN hop is one tick. Over WANs, the ticks are calculated empirically by IPXWAN. The actual tick count is then increased to allow for multiple workstations to use the same link.
Discards due to too Many Hops 1 of 1
Number of IPX packets discarded because the maximum hop count was reached.
In IPX, the routers are configured with the maximum hop count that packets can take. On Novell systems not running IPXRTR, the hop limit is fixed at sixteen.
IPXRTR allows you to configure the maximum number of hops that a packet can take before being discarded.
Uncompressed Packets Sent 1 of 1
Number of IPX packets sent without their compressed headers, even though header compression is enabled.
This field is present only for WAN circuits.
If this value is high in relation to the number of compressed packets sent, you might want to increase the number of compression slots on the circuit. When increasing the number of compression slots, you must do this on systems for both sides of the link.
Unknown Sockets 1 of 1
Number of IPX packets that were discarded because the destination IPX socket was not open. This means that the application that was trying to be reached was unavailable.
For instance, if there is no NetBios application, this count will be incremented if a NetBios packet is received.
NLSP Version 1 of 1
This field displays the protocol version of NLSP.
Waiting Time 1 of 1
Default: 120 Seconds
Number of seconds to remain in the overload state before exiting. The system remains in the waiting state until it has completed all routing functions for this period. While in the waiting state, all other NLSP routers in the network consider this system unavailable for forwarding. This system discontinues advertising RIP routes other than local RIP routes.
WAN Call Target Name 1 of 1
Name of the WAN Call Target Name, if this system is a Novell router. If it is some other system, the name is whatever that system sets this value to.
Typically, it is the name for some record that contains the information to initiate calls to systems connected to a WAN.
Incoming Header Errors 1 of 2
Number of IPX packets discarded because of errors in their IPX header, including any IPX packets that are smaller than the minimum 30 bytes.
This is a severe error that should be investigated, especially if the error count is increasing. The value usually should be zero. If it is not, there might be:
Faulty hardware, such as a bad adapter card (NIC)
Problems with the underlying media, such as bad WAN connections
Incoming Header Errors 2 of 2
Malfunctioning IPX system generating incorrect IPX packets.
Initialization Packets Received 1 of 1
Number of compression initialization packets received.
These packets are received when the sender wants to specify that a new IPX or NCP packet header should be stored for later decompression.
If this value is increasing at a high rate, it is possible that the number of configured compression slots is too low.
RIP Pace 1 of 2
Default: 9 Packets per Second
Maximum rate at which the RIP periodic update sends packets on this circuit. RIP triggered updates do not obey the pace value because the interpacket gap sends, at most, 9 packets per second per circuit.
The RIP pacing value can be set higher to allow more data traffic to be sent over a WAN circuit. You can change the update interval so that the periodic
updates are sent less frequently. You can reduce the
RIP Pace 2 of 2
pacing interval so that packets are not sent as frequently, freeing up bandwidth on your WAN circuit.
You must be careful not to set the pacing value so low that your RIP updates are not sent fully every periodic interval.
Compressed Packets Received 1 of 1
Number of packets received over the circuit that had their IPX or NCP headers compressed. If you are using header compression, this number should be significantly higher than the number of initialization packets received. If this is not the case, it indicates that you should increase the number of compression slots negotiated.
Initialization Packets Sent 1 of 1
Number of compression initialization pack
Compression Rejects Received 1 of 1
Number of compression reject packets received. This number should contain a zero value. If the value increments, it indicates that the router being polled is using a newer version of the compression algorithm and can compress headers other than IPX or NCP.
This value should not continue to increment. The router being polled should learn from the reject
packets which compression options are not implemented on the remote system.
Compression Rejects Sent 1 of 1
Number of compression reject packets sent. This number should contain a zero value. If the value increments, it is an indication that the remote router is using a newer version of the compression algorithm and can compress headers other than IPX or NCP.
This value should not continue to increment because this remote router should learn from the reject packets which compression options are not implemented on the remote system.
Uncompressed Packets Received 1 of 1
Number of packets that were received without compressed headers. If this number is large, you might want to increase the number of compression slots available on the circuit.
SAP Pace 1 of 2
Default: 9 Packets per Second
Maximum number of packets that SAP sends on a circuit in one second. SAP-triggered updates do not obey the pacing rule. Although the interpacket gap ensures that, at most, 9 SAP-triggered packets are sent per second per circuit.
The SAP pacing value can be set higher to allow more data traffic to be sent over a WAN circuit. You can change the update interval so that the periodic
SAP Pace 2 of 2
updates are sent less frequently. You can reduce the pacing interval so that packets are not sent as frequently. This frees up bandwidth on your WAN circuit.
You should ensure that the pace rate is high enough so
that all SAP packets are sent in periodic intervals.
You can increase the periodic interval to free up bandwidth on your WAN circuits, in conjunction with decreasing the SAP pace rate.d
SAP Aging Multiplier 1 of 3
Default: 4
SAP aging multiplier and the SAP periodic interval together determine the amount of time that a received service should be retained as a valid entry in the absence of a refresh from a periodic update.
This value has local significance only. Consequently, changing a value on one system does not change the way other systems on the circuit retain services.
SAP Aging Multiplier 2 of 3
All systems on the same LAN or WAN circuit should have the same value configured; otherwise, SAP does not operate properly.
Increasing the aging multiplier allows for a system to drop more periodic updates before incorrectly flagging a route as down. The default allows three consecutive periodic updates to be dropped before considering the route to be down. The fourth dropped periodic update flags the route as down.
SAP Aging Multiplier 3 of 3
If the SAP periodic update interval is 60 seconds and the aging multiplier is 4, it takes 240 seconds before a route is considered down, if a system terminates abnormally.
RIP Aging Multiplier 1 of 3
Default: 4
RIP aging multiplier and the RIP periodic interval together determine the amount of time that a received route should be retained as a valid entry in the absence of a refresh from a periodic update.
This value has local significance only. Consequently, changing a value on one system does not change the way other systems on the circuit retain routes.
RIP Aging Multiplier 2 of 3
All systems on the same LAN or WAN circuit should have the same value configured; otherwise, RIP does not operate properly.
Increasing the aging multiplier allows for a system to drop more periodic updates before incorrectly flagging a route as down. The default allows three consecutive periodic updates to be dropped before considering the route to be down. The fourth dropped periodic update flags the route as down.
RIP Aging Multiplier 3 of 3
If the RIP periodic update interval is 60 seconds and the aging multiplier is 4, it takes 240 seconds before a route is considered down, if a system terminates abnormally.7
NLSP Pace 1 of 2
This field displays the maximum rate at which NLSP sends LSPs to the circuit.
On LANs, the maximum rate is 30 LSPs per second. On WANs, NLSP uses IPXWAN to determine the bandwidth of the link. From this value, NLSP determines how many maximum sized LSPs it can send on the circuit per second. It reduces this value in half, so that there is room for data traffic to flow on the link. This is the "pacing rate" for a WAN link.
NLSP Pace 2 of 2
NLSP does not pace transmission of PSNPs, CSNPs, or Hellos. Each of these types of packets has its own pacing mechanism.
CSNPs are notable because they are sent periodically on LANs. CSNPs have an interpacket gap so that no more than 18 CSNPs are sent per second on a LAN circuit.
You can override the throughput characteristics of a link to increase or decrease the pace rate of LSPs
that are sent over WAN circuits, although this is discouraged.W
RIP Periodic Update Interval 1 of 2
Default: 60 Seconds
Determines how frequently the RIP routing table is sent on this circuit.
Together the RIP periodic interval and the RIP age multiplier determine how long this system should consider routes to be reachable in the absence of a periodic refresh. All systems on a circuit should have the same periodic interval configured.
RIP Periodic Interval 2 of 2
If you have NetWare 2 or routers that do not support configuring the periodic interval on your circuit, use the default.
Setting the RIP periodic interval to very high values can cause problems in your network. Unreachable systems might be considered reachable for the time it takes to age out this system. This system might interact with other systems to increase the time it takes for a system to become unreachable by the network.l
SAP Periodic Update Interval 1 of 2
Default: 60 Seconds
Determines how frequently the table of services is sent on this circuit.
Together the SAP periodic interval and the SAP age multiplier determine how long this system should consider services to be reachable in the absence of a periodic refresh. All systems on a circuit should have the same SAP periodic interval configured.
SAP Periodic Interval 2 of 2
If you have NetWare 2 or routers that do not support configuring the periodic interval on your circuit, use the default.
Setting the SAP periodic interval to very high values can cause problems in your network. Unreachable systems can continue to be considered reachable for the time it takes to age out the system. This system can interact with other systems to increase the time it takes for a system to become unreachable.o
RIP Packet Size 1 of 2
Default: 432 Bytes
Maximum RIP packet that can be sent on this circuit, including the 30-byte IPX header.
The default allows up to 50 RIP routes to be sent in a single RIP packet. You can increase the size of the RIP packet on this circuit, but you must ensure that all other systems are capable of receiving this larger packet size.
RIP Packet Size 2 of 2
If you have NetWare 2 systems or routers that do not support larger RIP packet sizes on this LAN or WAN circuit, then use the default only. Otherwise, you might lose destinations in your network.
RIP Packet Size 1 of 2
Default: 480 Bytes
Maximum SAP packet that can be sent on this circuit, including the 30-byte IPX header.
The default allows up to seven services to be sent in a single SAP packet. You can increase the size of the SAP packet on this circuit, but you must make sure that all other systems are capable of receiving this larger packet size.
SAP Packet Size 2 of 2
If you have NetWare 2 systems or routers that do not support larger SAP packet sizes on this LAN or WAN circuit, then use the default only. Otherwise, you might lose services in your network.
RIP Packets Received 1 of 1
Number of RIP packets received on this circuit. This includes periodic and triggered RIP packets, as well as the workstation-to-router protocol that allows the workstations to determine routes to destinations.
Even if you have turned RIP off on this circuit, it continues to receive and process RIP packets from workstations. You can use the RIP tracking screen to determine how much RIP is being received by this system.
SAP Packets Received 1 of 1
Number of SAP packets received on this circuit. It includes periodic and triggered SAP packets, as well as SAP packets generated by workstations to find services.
Even after you have converted your network to NLSP, workstations still use SAP to find services.
NLSP Packets Received 1 of 1
Number of NLSP packets received by this NLSP system. This includes all CSNP, PSNP, Hello, and LSP packets.
NLSP Packets Sent 1 of 1
Number of NLSP packets that have been queued for transmission on this circuit. This does not include the packets that were queued for transmission but were dropped by the data link.
RIP Packets Sent 1 of 1
Number of RIP packets that have been queued for transmission on this circuit. This does not include the packets that were queued for transmission but were dropped by the data link.
SAP Packets Sent 1 of 1
Number of SAP packets that were queued for transmission on this circuit. This includes those packets that were queued for transmission but were dropped by the data link.
Available Services 1 of 1
Displays the services that are advertised from this destination network. The name and type of service and the next hop circuit name are displayed. You can select a specific service to obtain more detailed information about the service.
NLSP Neighbors 1 of 3
NLSP neighbors that are on this circuit.
If known, the NLSP neighbor name is displayed. The NLSP neighbor name is obtained from LSPs, which are transmitted after a neighbor enters the Up state with the designated router. If a neighbor is continually in the Up state, but does not have a name, there is a problem with your network. You should use a LANalyzer(r) network analyzer or similar device to troubleshoot the network.
NLSP Neighbors 2 of 3
A system can become its own neighbor if it has more than one adapter attached to the same network.
The circuit name on which this NLSP neighbor was learned is also displayed.
Finally, the state of the neighbor is displayed. The state can be Up, Down, or Initializing. If a system always appears in the Initializing state, it indicates that the system can send but not receive packets.
NLSP Neighbors 3 of 3
This can occur because of an adapter malfunction, or because the board was not configured properly.
Potential Path 1 of 1
Path described below shows the path an IPX packet might take to its destination. It shows all the intermediate LANs and routers in the path. For LANs, the media type is displayed, as well as the cost and throughput of the interface. This is not a cummulative cost. For routers, the name of the router is displayed. Routers also display the internal network number.
When counting the number of hops to a destination, only include the routers and servers.
Next Hop NLSP ID 1 of 1
Used to distinguish between NLSP systems. Like network numbers, each NLSP system identifier must be different on all NLSP systems. NLSP derives its system identifier from the internal network number of the server.
NLSP Overload 1 of 1
Default: No
Indicates whether the NLSP system is overloaded. An overloaded system cannot participate in internetworking and local applications do not function properly.
Please see the help under "Detailed NLSP System Information" and "Level 1 Overloads" for further information.